Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Conversion of an optically active substance to a racemic form.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The process of rendering racemic; the transformation of a single optically active (dextro- or levorotatory) compound into the racemic form. It involves the change of one half of the molecules of the substance into the isomeric form with opposite optical rotation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun chemistry The formation of a racemate from a pure enantiomer.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The new method uses the natural deterioration of silk's amino acids to determine its age by calculating that change over time—a process known as racemization.

    Week in Words 2011

  • The root "racem" of racemization comes from a Latin word for "cluster of grapes"—some early research in chemical molecular structure involved analyzing acids derived from grape juice.

    Week in Words 2011

  • The ratio of these two isomers is initially unequal (with only one exception, naturally occuring amino acids are in the L form) and will decay to a balanced state in a process called '' racemization ''.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] Ebrianson 2009

  • Old and Silk racemization Conservation scientists have developed a new technique to authenticate and determine the age of silk artifacts...

    Week in Words 2011

  • “Partial racemization of amino acids in meteorites: Implications for their possible modes of origin.”

    First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

  • “Partial racemization of amino acids in meteorites: Implications for their possible modes of origin.”

    First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

  • Nick really needs to help the poor schleps who decided to debate about aspartic acid racemization constants and C-14 dating.

    Checkin' U Out 2007

  • The racemization data refute confidence in C-14 data and probably lots of other stratigraphic speculations.

    Checkin' U Out 2007

  • The sample question is the racemization rate constant of Aspartic Acid with a D/L ratio of .14 and a supposed age of 400 years.

    Checkin' U Out 2007

  • In the second case, a chronocline spanning 15,000 to 20,000 years and expressing the transition of an extinct fossil form to the modern form found on the south coast was documented by morphometry of fossils dated by amino acid racemization and radiocarbon.

    Evolution as Feedback? - The Panda's Thumb 2007

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